Staci Harrison has battled with opiates for a decade. Now she is focused on being the best parent for her little girl.
Markell DeLoatch, Public Opinion

As Staci Harrison prepares to leave her parents' house for three months, her 8-year-old daughter, Lela, seems unphased.

Lela's bright pink dress and matching fingerless gloves match the high-energy girl, who is talking about camp and soccer, and enthusiastically spelling her hyphenated last name during a reporter's visit.

Harrison does not match her daughter's energy, but she isn't trying to. She knows her limitations. She's a recovering heroin addict, and since she got herself weaned off the methadone that helps her feel OK, she's had some rough days.

That visit was about a week and a half ago. Harrison has since left her parents' house in Marion to move into Esther House, a women's recovery house in Waynesboro.

Lela is staying with her grandparents, Sue and Mike Harrison. It's not much change for the girl, because they have had custody of her for a majority of the last seven years. This is how Lela is OK, well-adjusted, happy. Harrison is thankful for her parents, and knows she is lucky to have her daughter with them.

Families battling addiction have made the news recently when a parent overdosed, leaving neighbors and passersby to find the children in varying levels of distress.

Franklin County Children and Youth often get involved in these situations.

Children's safety is top priority

The referrals to CYS that come from police often stem from officers finding children present during drug crimes. In other cases, including several recent ones, police respond to an overdose that has occurred in the presence of children.

"There are certain instances where we don’t have a choice (to report to CYS). It's a mandatory report," said Chambersburg Police Chief Ron Camacho. "There's other times where officers, where they're not mandated, that they will report to Children and Youth, just to put it on their radar. And then there are times when the officer doesn't report something to Children and Youth, because based on their experience and training, they feel like it's not warranted for that."

Parents in these scenarios can be charged with crimes. It can get complicated though, especially depending on how the overdose was reported.

"We'll look at what is chargeable, what the district attorney's office guidance is," Chambersburg Det. Sgt. Jon Greenawalt said. "Because to me, what has thrown a wrench in that scenario is, can we charge for corruption of minors, can we charge for endangering minors, under the Good Samaritan law."

The Good Samaritan law enables people who witness an overdose or suffer an overdose themselves to call 911 and not get in criminal trouble. The point is to save lives, to prevent fear of making the call.

"You're talking about the safety of the children. You might not be able to effect an arrest, but you would call Children and Youth," Camacho said. "I think the way the laws are written, the way our policies are, we're going to be contacting (CYS) for everything when it comes to that."

A growing problem

Franklin County CYS Director Doug Amsley and Assistant Administrator Minnie Goshorn agree that the ongoing opioid epidemic in the county has contributed heavily to their agency's workload. Opioids are a category of drugs that includes natural substances such as heroin and morphine as well as synthetic ones such as prescription painkillers like oxycodone and fentanyl.

One of the clearest points of proof of that workload is the number of children placed in homes other than their parents', because of drugs and alcohol issues.

There were 269 placements of children to other homes in 2016, Amsley said, referencing the Franklin County CYS 2016 annual report. That's a 46 percent jump from 2012, when there were 184 placements. In 2015, there were 246 placements.

The problem is also demonstrated in the number of babies born suffering from addiction, or with drugs in their system.

Whereas between 2012 and 2014, there were six or less babies born in the county with drugs in their system, that number more than tripled in 2015, to 22, according to the CYS report. Last year, that number doubled, to 44 babies born with drugs in their system.

That is an at least 633 percent increase from 2012-14.

Amsley said opioids are what babies are suffering from a majority of the time.

A lengthy process to ensure the child's safety begins from birth. CYS attempts to work with the families to keep them together, instead of placing a child elsewhere, Goshorn said.

"We work with the family, do an assessment, determine what level they're at regarding, how far along the drug use is, if they've gotten any treatment..." Goshorn said. "We do drug screens, make sure they're following the services they need. And then we also make sure they have the support in place if something happens, that they move through us so we make sure there's some family support."

CYS's involvement can seem scary, and sometimes parents shut down because they don't want to lose their children, Amsley said.

But taking a child from his parents and home is not the outcome CYS wants.

"We want to give a good assessment. That parent can still parent that child in the home with the help of another parent or family, or, you know, friends or other supports," Amsley said. "They can still do that in the home while the parents are still getting treatment as well."

Harrison has not been involved with CYS. But, like Harrison's situation, many children of parents with drug problems whom CYS is involved with go to live with family members. But if that cannot be done, CYS will place the child in foster care.

'I couldn't take care of myself'

When Harrison's parents took Lela, she did not fight it.

Staci Harrison plays with her daughter, Lela, 7, in the backyard of her parent's home on Thursday, August 10, 2017 in Marion. Staci Harrison battled addiction for a decade and is embracing recovery.(Photo: Markell DeLoatch, Public Opinion)

Harrison said she started doing heroin more than a decade ago because Lela's father introduced her to it. She got to a point where she was using every day, never thinking about getting treatment. She got on methadone, an opioid medication used to wean addicts off heroin, then Suboxone, another type of medication to treat opioid addiction. She feels she did OK, including getting clean through her pregnancy with Lela.

"After I had her, I started using on the weekends again, and then it just trickled over into the week," Harrison said.

When Lela's father began to work out of the state, leaving Harrison home only during the week, she said she didn't handle it well.

"I spiraled out of control for about the next seven years. She'll be 8 next month, and the last seven years have been about the worst of it," Harrison said.

Her parents saw what was happening and took custody of Lela. Harrison understood. She cleaned up after that for about a year and a half and got joint custody. But she then relapsed, and her parents took full custody of Lela.

"I couldn't take care of myself. I'm not gonna drag this kid through all my b**s***," Harrison said. "Basically, it's not fair to her, when my parents can provide (for) her better than I could at the time."

Harrison's situation with her daughter illustrates what CYS aims for with families it is involved with. Keeping children with their own family lessens the impact on them.

"The family connections are important, and we've found that kids do best in family situations, be it with their parents or another relative, and there's research to back that up. That's how the laws are set up," Amsley said. "You have to give folks the opportunity to make changes, to make corrections and to improve their homes. And, I mean, if that doesn't happen, we can remove a child."

The challenge of parenting can just be too tough to tackle for many addicts to keep their children in their own homes.

"(Being a mom) is not easy and then you deal with the addiction part on top of it and sometimes - my problem's always been the stress and the pressure from my parents from trying to be this perfect mom," Harrison said. "Or trying to be a halfway decent mom, anyways."

She knows now that the last time she relapsed, it was because she jumped back in too fast. She said you have to re-learn to be a parent.

Moving a child can make problems worse

CYS has found that taking a child away from an addicted parent tends to create two responses, neither of which help.

"It enhances the problems because they're more upset and more stressed out, and then they want to use," Goshorn said.

But another perhaps more dangerous response is more common, she said.

"If we just remove the child, the parents find it as they don’t have any responsibilities so they can still go out and use," Goshorn said.

That perceived lack of responsibility, Goshorn added, just creates a longer process for getting the child back home.

Harrison experienced that situation firsthand, and said she felt blessed to have her parents around to raise Lela.

"I think one of my major downfalls, I've used as long as I have, is because I didn't have to worry about her," Harrison said.

Her daughter was safe and stable, "and I didn't have to worry, I could always focus on myself. So it's been a blessing and a curse."

Goshorn said she believes the average age of the kids CYS places in other homes due to drug and alcohol related reasons is 5 or younger.

The agency does have kids that are school-age whose parents use, and the kids will report their own parents. If the kids are teens, CYS has to be sure the teens aren't also using drugs.

What to do is not usually an easy choice for the families around a person who is battling addiction. But Harrison's parents knew what they had to do.

"As parents, you want to believe that your child really wants to get better. So you hope, you always have hope," Sue Harrison said. "So there's several times that we let Staci come back, it was hopeful that she would of the right thing and really try to get herself together."

A long road ahead

This time Harrison's parents have noticed a change in her, although she has only been home for two months.

"I'm more hopeful than I have been in all the years of recovery for her, this time," Sue Harrison said. "I can honestly say it's different. I don't know how to explain it, but there's a difference, this time."

Staci Harrison, left, holds her daughter Lela, 7, as she spends time with her parents Mike and Sue Harrison of Marion. Staci Harrison battled addiction for a decade and is embracing recovery.(Photo: Markell DeLoatch, Public Opinion)

Harrison knows she has a long road ahead of her, as does Lela. She went from not seeing Lela for six months, to living with her for two months, to now another break.

"She's aware that I'm leaving again, but I'm leaving to go somewhere so that, when I get out in another three months, then we're gonna slowly start integrating her," Harrison said.

Harrison said her one hope is that in 20 years Lela is not sitting where her mom is, and instead learns from Harrison's mistakes.

"We'll get to that point where I'll sit down and explain (it) to her. She'll be 8 next month, she doesn't need to know all that (right now)," Harrison said. "I won't hide any of it from her, I won't go into detail, but I won't hide it."